Crossed Paths
by G.O.T. Nick
Summary: AU Ichigo makes a chance encounter with another teen, generating a very much unanticipated chain of events. Rating subject to change due to language and eventual graphic violence.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer (The only one you will see this whole story!): I do not own Bleach (damn…it would be nice if I did…but how would I ever know what happens next if Kubo wasn't there to tell me?). The manga is made by the masterful Kubo Tite, and read by a group of people that happens to include myself. The only method in which I own Bleach is the number of songs and downloaded manga chapters and anime episodes residing on my computer. That is all. Stop reading this. Now. Damn it, WHY ARE YOU STILL READING THE FUCKING DISCLAIMER, GO AWAY!

Notice: This story will contain spoilers from various points in the Bleach manga up until its current status. This story is also an AU (alternate universe to you fanfiction n00bs) story, so the first person to point out that a character has been placed in a Gotei Thirteen seat that is already occupied WILL be subjected to the full brunt of Hollow Ichigo's Getsuga Tenshou. And yes, I can make that happen. I'm the author. And now I'm rambling. Damn it, this was supposed to be one of my more serious fics. Hm…I should stop rambling now…Fucking damn it, WHY CAN'T I ST-!

**Bleach: Crossed Paths**

**A Bleach fanfiction by G.O.T. Nick**

**Prologue**

Friday 7:12 pm. Karakura Town.

A young man, wearing casual street clothes, walks down the street. Over his shoulder is slung a school uniform, consisting of a white, collared shirt and black pants. "Damn it…" he mutters, "I hate uniforms…and I really hate getting new ones." He sighs, and runs a hand through his already combed-back brown hair. "So annoying, school…can't wait for when the whole damn thing's over with…it's such a waste of my time." He sighs, and closes his eyes for a few moments, then opens the distinctive green orbs again. "Like they can teach me any-" Suddenly, he hears a loud noise, followed by a yell of pain, and finally a body collapsing to the ground. His instincts take over, and he dashes around the corner, to see a sight that he finds…appealing.

Friday 7:13 pm. Karakura Town.

The teenager spotted another person, about his own height and age, standing amid a group of other teenagers, who looked like skaters judging by their clothes and the boards they carried. At the person's feet he saw one of the skaters, unconscious, with blood flowing from his nose. The other skaters were protesting his actions. The one they were complaining to was wearing gray pants, a gray jacket, and had a brown bag slung over his shoulder. But the most distinct thing about him was his- "Orange hair…?" the brown-haired teen murmured, "Weird…" The orange-haired teen was saying something to the skaters as he proceeded to beat the living crap out of each of them, but the brown-haired teen was barely paying attention to his words. Something about a kid who had died and whose offering had been knocked over…Speaking of which, he noticed that there was a weird young girls with pigtails standing unimposingly behind the orange-haired guy. No…wait, she wasn't standing, she was _floating_. _'Ah,'_ the brown-haired one thought, _'a ghost…and probably the one he's talking about…'_

Eventually, it appeared that the girl let herself be seen by the idiot skaters, who screamed like little girls and ran in fear. _'That must mean that guy can see her normally…interesting. But who cares about that…the guy's tough…'_ He watched the orange-haired guy and the ghost exchange farewells, then walked quickly to catch up to him. "Hey," he said simply, bluntly.

The orange-haired one turned to look at him, a degree of annoyance evident in his eyes, "Yeah, what? I'm in a hurry, I'm late as it is."

'_Yeah, like I care about your schedule…'_ He didn't voice the thought, "You're pretty tough, you beat up those four without much effort."

"Yeah, so what?"

A frown, _'He's not interested…damn, guess it's just because of that ghost…'_ "Eh, nothing."

"Whatever," but then suddenly, the orange-head noticed something. "Hey," he jabbed a finger at the uniform hanging over the brunette's shoulder, "you go to my school."

"Not yet, actually," he responded, "I just got transferred here. I'm starting tomorrow. You a freshman?"

"Yeah, you?" A nod, "Hell, we might be classmates."

"Maybe," came the agreement, "what's your name, anyways?"

The orange-head held out his hand, "Kurosaki Ichigo."

The brunette accepted Ichigo's hand in a shake, "Strawberry, huh?"

Ichigo's brow twitched, "It means 'Guardian Angel,' damn it!"

"Ah, I see, stupid kanji…" the brunette murmured.

Ichigo broke the handshake, "And just who the hell are you?"

The brunette jerked a thumb at himself, "Name's Ryokuai Kouen."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow, "Ryokuai?"

Kouen held up two fingers and gestured with them towards his eyes, "Family trait."

"Ah," replied Ichigo. Then there was silence. The conversation looked to be over. "Well," Ichigo said, as they came to a corner and he turned it, "I'll be seeing you around, Kouen-san."

"Yeah," Kouen agreed, as he kept going. _'Weird feeling…'_ he thought, as he left, _'as if…'_ He shook his head to clear his thoughts, _'Nah, must be my imagination. Tends to do that to ya after you've seen as much weird stuff as I have…'_

As it turns out, Kouen's feeling was very, very accurate.

* * *

_  
Kouen and Ichigo have met for the first time, but what does this hold for their future? Well you see, it means that Ichigo will be distracted so much that I'll be able to enjoy nee-san's sweet, soft, supple-_

_(Sounds of a stuffed animal being stepped on repeatedly)_

_KON! Stop ruining the chapter preview! Oh fuck it, we're out of time!_


	2. A Turn For

Last chapter wasn't much, I know. This chapter will be somewhat boring, since you know most of it already. But I suggest you still read through it…

**Bleach: Crossed Paths  
****By G.O.T. Nick**

**Chapter One: A Turn For…**

It was 7:31 when Kurosaki Ichigo reached his home, the Kurosaki Clinic. He casually placed his hand on the doorknob, and pushed it open with a statement of, "I'm home."

"YOU'RE LATE!" replied his father, Kurosaki Isshin, with a flying spinning heel kick to the left side of Ichigo's jaw. As Ichigo momentarily lay crumpled in a heap, his father began to lecture him in his own, special manner, "You delinquent! What time do you think it is? Dinner in this house is at seven o'clock!"

Naturally, Ichigo sprang to his feet and yelled back in kind, "You bastard! Is that any way to greet your son, who just returned from helping a spirit to find peace?"

"Silence!" Isshin dismissed, "No matter the reason, those who disrupt the iron harmony of this household shall receive a punishment of blood!"

* * *

As Ichigo and his father continued to argue through a series of yells, kicks, and punches, while Ichigo's younger sisters Karin and Yuzu watched, a very different and much less exciting event was taking place in the household of Ryokuai Kouen. Much like Ichigo, he entered his home with a simple push at the door. Much unlike Ichigo, no one was there to greet him. Kouen stepped into his simple one-bedroom apartment, and sighed, flinging his new uniform on the nearby couch. He closed the door behind him, and stood there, with his eyes closed, thinking about how he'd have to start at a new school the next day. Again.

After a few minutes, Kouen realized he was hungry. Another ten minutes later, he had devoured some rice cakes, and was lying on the couch lazily, lost in thought. And then, very suddenly, something caught his attention. He bolted upright, his eyes darting about the room in search of some unseen force. "What the hell…?" It was something…immense, powerful…evil… "I've never felt it before…what is it?" After a few moments, he calmed down, and tried to concentrate on this immense new presence. It took a few minutes, but then…_'There! Maybe two miles from here…and it's getting gradually closer…'_

Kouen thrust himself out of the couch, and grabbed a jacket he had left crumpled on the floor. He yanked the door open and dashed outside, knowing it would lock behind him. As he ran and slid the jacket over his shoulders, a brief flash of a thought that his actions were insane appeared in his mind before he squelched it. _'Yeah, sure it's big, dark, and scary…but something tells me I just have to check it out…'_ Kouen never regretted his decision.

* * *

Ichigo was under the influence of a Kidoh spell, listening to a lecture by a Death God named Kuchiki Rukia, by the time Kouen found the presence he had felt. The sight of it, to put it simply, shocked him. It was a huge, dark _thing_, with humanoid limbs and a white, skull-like mask with a movable jaw. When Kouen set eyes on it from across the street, it was lumbering after the ghost he had seen with Ichigo earlier. The girl was running for her life (or whatever one would call her current state), ponytails flaring out behind her as she pumped her legs, but the humanoid beast was easily keeping pace with her, and seemed to be gaining ground. And then, the girl lost her footing, and began to fall towards the ground, the immense beast bearing down on her…

Without thinking, Kouen was across the street, arms clutched about the smaller girl, tackling her out of the way as one of the beast's meaty arms swung forward, cracking the sidewalk she had been running on. The thing roared, and picked up its arm, bringing the other around in a horizontal swing in an attempt to smash Kouen and the girl against the wall. Kouen let out a garbled scream of panic that was drowned out by the girl's own frightened wail, the beast's bellow, and the crunch of its arm against the wall as Kouen scrambled just out of the way. Without a moment's hesitation, he dashed down the street, hoping he was a good deal faster than the girl he had just rescued. The heavy footsteps, quickly getting closer, indicated that he wasn't quite fast enough.

Then, against all logic, Kouen heard the beast laugh, a loud, triumphant laugh that swallowed all hope from Kouen's soul. And then, it said, "Run all you like, little one… it will be all the better when I eat your enormous spirit energy…"

'_Oh fuck…'_ Kouen mentally wailed, _'I did not want to die like this…why is this happening to me? Why why why why why…'_ And then something struck him. _'Enormous…spirit energy?'_

"Hehe… you've got pretty good stamina to be carrying that weight and still be going at this speed," the beast mocked, "truly your soul will be delicious… a much better meal than that pathetic Plus's…"

'_It's after me, then,'_ Kouen concluded, _'for one reason or another, I've got some sort of power, and it wants to eat me instead of this girl…okay then…'_ He darted around a corner, into a slightly narrow alleyway. He looked over his shoulder, and saw that the beast was having some degree of trouble fitting into the alley. Kouen knew eventually it would get sick and just smash the buildings up until it could fit, but this would buy him all the time he needed. He set the girl down on the ground, and leaned down to her to say, "Get out of here, now. I'll distract him, okay?" the girl nodded, panic evident in her eyes, and ran down the alley away from the beast. Kouen quickly sought out a door in one of the buildings, and kicked it down before dashing inside. He briefly looked around, and saw that he had entered a restaurant of some kind. It didn't matter though- what mattered was to keep moving, and hope he could outrun the thing hunting for him long enough to find some help. He jumped onto a nearby table, and to avoid stumbling through the restaurant's furniture proceeded to leap quickly from table to table before he reached the front of the store, and hurled his body through the large glass window.

Kouen managed to land on his feet, and without bothering to look around simply bolted down the road, knowing the beast would be only a few meters behind him. Sure enough, the heavy footfalls started again, and he felt the immense presence exuded by the beast swiftly closing upon him. Luckily, without the weight of the girl to slow him, Kouen was matching the thing's speed, the distance between them not closing. The problem was that Kouen had been running all-out for several minutes, and was now feeling the pain that his fear had kept him from noticing before in his shoulders, forearms, and legs. There were a few shards of glass embedded in his skin, and with every bound he took it dug into his flesh, but he dared not attempt to pick them out because doing so might slow him a step or two. No, better to keep running. _'Keep running,'_ Kouen ordered his body, _'keep running, don't you dare stop…I don't care if my lungs and heart can't keep up with the energy I'm spending, just keep running…'_

'_Keep running…'_ his breath was coming in deep, quick gasps.

'_Keep running…'_ his heart pounded painfully in his chest.

'_Keep running…'_ his sleeves and pant legs were sticking to his limbs thanks to the adhesion provided by his sweat and blood.

'_Keep running…'_ his vision was getting blurry.

'_Keep…running…'_ he faltered, just one step. His right foot tilted just a bit to the side, and his shoe failed to grip the ground. His body fell forward, expecting the leg to provide a support and a launching point to move into the next step, but instead the leg was going back behind his body while the rest collapsed to the ground. At the last instant, Kouen thrust both hands down into the concrete, pushing his body back up, and he stumbled forward, but it wasn't enough. That one mistake had lost him too much distance. There was no way to make it up. Any instant now, the hands would be upon him-

Kouen took another twenty steps before he realized he was no longer being chased. He stopped dead in his tracks, and turned around. The beast looked…distracted. Very distracted. Distracted by a building to its left, with a white sign on it that read, in large kanji, "Kurosaki Clinic". The beast let out a loud roar, and approached the building. "Kuro…saki?" Kouen half-muttered, half-gasped out. The beast looked at the front wall of the building, with the human-sized door positioned under the sign. There was no way it could fit through that small door. So with a swing of its arm, it made a new one, and then lumbered in with another, louder roar. And then the screams began.

Kouen couldn't take anymore. His body was too exhausted and he was so terrified that he didn't even think to react to the bile gathering in his throat, and he vomited up the rice cakes he had eaten earlier, along with whatever other substances that his stomach held. After that he could only kneel and stare at the ground, so terrified and tired that he could only shake and gasp. He vaguely managed to wonder why in the world the thing had stopped chasing him in favor of going after the occupants of the building, but then he remembered what had happened less than an hour ago, _'Ichigo can see ghosts too…which means it's probably after him. And it knows I'm too tired to run, too, so it's trying to get as much as it possibly can in one go…'_

Just as he had worked this out, he saw the beast reemerge from the hole in the wall it had created, gripping a young, brown-haired girl in its enormous right fist. _'No…it's going to have her as an appetizer, and then move on to Ichigo and me…damn it…we're all going to die.'_ "We're dead…we're all fucking dead…"

"YUZU!" Kouen jerked his head from staring at the beast just a bit, and was shocked to see Ichigo standing there, holding a simple baseball bat in his right hand and with a look of desperation on his face. He ran forward and swung the bat at the immense beast, who responded by swinging its meaty left fist at the teenager. Ichigo managed to get the bat in the way and reduce the force of the blow, but he was still sent flying by the strike, and landed on his butt some dozen meters away. The bat was now little more than a stump of wood that ended just a few inches above Ichigo's grip. The beast moved forward, preparing to swing the arm that held Yuzu down onto Ichigo.

In a blur of motion that Kouen only barely managed to keep up with, a black-haired woman in black robes appeared in mid-air, swinging a katana-_'A katana?"_ Kouen thought in bewilderment- down on the beast's limb. It penetrated about halfway through, and with a bellow of pain the beast released Yuzu, whom Ichigo slid under and caught, before it took several steps backwards.

The woman and Ichigo were talking, but Kouen wasn't paying attention now. He looked back at the beast, and pondered what had just happened. _'Ichigo fought it, even though there was no possible way he could hurt it. He would've died if that girl hadn't stepped in. Why did he do it, though?'_ It didn't take long for him to figure out the answer, _'Because he wanted to protect his sister. I tried doing that with the ghost girl earlier, but I didn't try to fight it. I ran away…'_ He grimaced in self-disgust, _'I'm a cowardly bitch…back in all my old schools, I was the best fighter. I knew I was, so I was never afraid to pound some heads if the occasion arose. That's why I had so many discipline problems, and landed here in Karakura. But now that I've come up against something that's definitely stronger than me…'_ He growled, and unsteadily pushed himself off the ground.

"Wait a sec…he came for me?" Kouen turned to look at Ichigo, who was speaking to the girl with the katana. She turned to look at him, a bit confused at his tone. "So does that mean this is my fault…? The reason my dad's over there almost dead…the reason Karin and Yuzu's lives are in danger…it's all…"

"Wait," the girl interrupted him, turning to face him with a sudden look of concern. As she spoke, she didn't notice the beast come up behind her, arm raised to strike, "I did not mean…"

"You idiot!" Kouen heard himself yell as the arm swung, "LOOK OUT!" There was a loud smack as the beast swiped her, sending her flying in Kouen's direction. He clumsily caught her as she shot through the air, and then the two of them fell to the ground. "Damn it, watch your back you moron!"

She winced and disentangled herself from him before standing up, "I was careless to neglect defending my back before an enemy," she admitted. "Where did you come from?" she suddenly asked.

"Long story," Kouen stated concisely. Further comments were halted as the two turned their attention to Ichigo, who was speaking directly to the beast.

"Hey…bitch…you want my soul, right…?" Ichigo said, a slight grin evident on his face.

Kouen's eyes widened as he suddenly figured out what Ichigo was doing. It was a similar tactic to the one Kouen had employed to get the beast's attention before, but at least then he had had the sense to run. "No way…" he clambered to his feet and shouted, "Kurosaki, don't be a fucking hero!"

Ichigo didn't listen, "THEN FIGHT ME FACE TO FACE LIKE A MAN!" he challenged, with a jerk of his thumb at himself, "NO ONE ELSE HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS! TRY KILLING ME AND TAKING MY SOUL!"

"FOOL!" the girl shouted, running forward as the beast let out a battle cry and lunged forward, teeth bared. The girl managed to get in front of Ichigo in time, and ribbons flew everywhere as the beast's jaws closed around her. Ichigo and Kouen stared in shock, and it looked like the girl was going to be ripped in half. But by a stroke of luck her katana was wedged between two of the beast's mask's teeth, and she used it to slice away a portion of the mask that included one of the teeth. The beast reared back with another howl of pain, releasing the girl as blood shot from its jaw and her torso. She collapsed to the ground, blood flowing unimpeded onto the concrete of the street.

"Death God!" Ichigo gasped.

"No…" Kouen breathed. The Death God had been the only one capable of hurting the thing so far, and there was no way she could gather the strength to stand, let alone fight back the beast. Maybe they could run, but the Hollow had displayed the ability to run just as fast and easily much longer than normal humans. His eyes drifted over to Ichigo's younger sister. What was her name again? Yuzu, that was it. He didn't know anything about her, though she appeared to be only about ten years old. But for one reason or another, she had been important enough for Ichigo to run forward in an attempt to save her that could not possibly have succeeded. _'Ichigo…I don't know why you did that… And I don't know why you just tried to play Jesus Christ by sacrificing yourself to save everyone…You're either really brave or really stupid…But whatever the reason, I'm not gonna let you steal the spotlight without a fight. I'm not going to die a coward while you die a fallen hero.'_ "Kurosaki!" he shouted at Ichigo, who looked up in surprise from the Death God.

"Ryokuai?" he said in surprise, as if he hadn't noticed Kouen's existence until now.

"Listen up," Kouen ordered, "I don't care what you do in the last few moments of your life, but I'll give you as much time as I can. I'll fight this bitch with whatever I can, and you do whatever you can to live as long as possible. Run, hide, pray, whatever. If you have any good ideas on how to actually survive, though, be sure to tell me. And think them up really quickly, too, they won't do me any good when I'm dead."

Ichigo looked taken aback, then somewhat angry, "You idiotic bastard! There's no way you'll even last five seconds against that thing!"

"Is that a challenge?" Kouen replied with a forced smirk. Then he turned and ran to intercept the beast, which was beginning to make its approach again. "Hey, asshole!" he shouted up at the thing, "Kurosaki's too much of a weak pussy to be a challenge to you! You know I can survive a pretty long time at least, so fight me first!"

The beast stared at him for a moment. The last time someone had stood boldly and senselessly in front of it and issued such a challenge, it had ended up biting a rather savory soul, this was true. However, it had also been injured. Kouen realized this, and began preparing, _'It's not going to attack so quickly this time, and it's probably not going to attack with its jaws because of that injury. That means I just have to watch for its-'_ Before the thought could finish, the left fist was hurtling down, at high speeds even though Kouen could tell there wasn't as much force behind it as the previous flails. Kouen's reflexes took over, and he jumped _up_ just as the fist smashed into the concrete below him, sending debris in all directions. He managed a flip in mid-air and landed on the beast's forearm. _'Got it! Now if I can just reach…'_ He took a jump to get higher on the arm, for the beast was trying to swat him with its other palm as he ascended. He planted his feet against the beast's upper left arm and shoved himself backwards, quickly flipping again so that his feet landed on the back of the thing's right hand. Beyond the white mask, the yellow eyes widened slightly in surprise, and then Kouen bounded forward and swung his leg up with all his strength, striking right where the Death God had wounded it earlier.

It howled and stumbled backwards, another small chunk of the mask broken off from Kouen's successful assault. Kouen very nearly fell on his head the way down, but managed to get his hands under himself first, and rolled into the force of the fall to avoid any great injury. He allowed himself to smirk in triumph at seeing the beast recoil from him. Yes…he might actually be able to do this! He could react to the monster's attacks quickly enough to avoid injury, and more importantly, he could _hurt_ it! He stood to his full height and grinned like an idiot, "That's right, bitch! I don't go down that easily." He jerked a thumb at himself, the way Ichigo had done before, and said, "I'm Ryokuai Kouen, and I've never lost a fight in my life! There's no way a dumbass like you can hope to kill me!" He let out a cry of fury and dashed towards the monster. The beast responded by swiping with its injured right arm at him. Kouen grinned and simply hopped over it, "Idiot, I'm too fast for that!" But then suddenly he noticed that the other arm was already swinging. Contrary to what he had thought, the beast had actually learned from his last attack, and had prepared for this one. _'It knew I would dodge…and it knew I would jump up like before so I could reach its face and hit it again…so it set a trap…'_ But there was nothing he could do about it. The meaty fingers closed around him, as he was unable to change his trajectory in mid-air. And then it proceeded to choke the life out of him.

The air left Kouen's lungs in the form of a scream of pain, and that was all he could do in reaction. _'Damn it…I couldn't pull it off…'_ His mouth opened as he tried to gasp in air, but it never got any further than his throat. To make matters worse, he could feel his own bones straining under the pressure of the beast's grip. If it squeezed any tighter, Kouen would snap like a twig. _'So this is it…'_ his head drooped forward, for his strength had already faded to the extent that his neck could no longer hold it upright. He could feel his body being carted forward as the monstrosity lumbered towards the remainder of its prey. Kouen was held in such a way that he could see Ichigo and the Death God, a mere half dozen meters away. But something strange was happening…the Death God had her sword positioned at Ichigo's chest, and the boy was helping to hold it in place. And then…it plunged forward, clean through his torso. _'What the…'_

There was a surge of energy and a burst of white and blue light. By the time it had faded, Kouen had been suddenly freed. He felt the pressure loosen around his chest, and then the impact of his body striking the ground. The fingers holding him loosened, and as his vision cleared he was able to see that the beast's arm had been cleaved clean off. His body reacted, and he began to gasp for air. He rolled over onto his hands and knees, and propped himself up so that he could see exactly what it was that was happening. "Holy shit…" he managed to breathe out. A few meters from the beast, Ichigo was standing, an immense katana-esque sword held over his shoulder, glaring at the now one-armed beast.

Ichigo charged forward, clashing with the beast, and slicing its leg off below the knee. "Feel my wrath for hurting my family…" he shouted, as the beast slowly teetered forward, "FISHFACE!" The sword swung down, cleaving right through its head, and the beast deteriorated into shadows.

Kouen stared in shock, baffled by what had just transpired. Ichigo had somehow gotten a sword, and he was dressed like the Death God woman. On top of that, within a span of about twenty seconds, he had slain a behemoth that Kouen had been trying to survive against for nearly twenty minutes. Kouen wanted to ask what was happening, what the demon that had wanted to eat him was, why Ichigo had suddenly become a Death God, and many more questions, but his fatigue and injuries would not permit him to do anymore than collapse on the street, and fall unconscious.

* * *

Kouen awakened a few hours later. He was in his own apartment, in his own bed, alone. He wasn't even in street clothes anymore, but rather just boxers and a white shirt, which was odd because he was usually too lazy to change before he went to bed. Memories of the incident that had occurred flitted through his mind, but they were blurred somehow. "Was it…a dream?" He sat up, and tried to think of what exactly had happened. He racked his mind for answers, and finally turned up one. He had watched anime for several straight hours as soon as he got home, and eaten some weird-looking sushi for dinner. "Hm…that must've been it…" he muttered with a nod to himself, and lay back down, hoping the meal would stop disturbing his slumber. He threw off the covers though, because they were constricting him. His hands fell to his sides on the bed, and he let out a sigh.

He felt something at his waist. He tilted his head down to look. He didn't see anything. But…there was _something_ by his left hip. He could feel it. It wasn't material, but he felt it there, a cold feeling, like a presence in the air. He stood up, out of his bed, and felt around the area. The sensation extended beyond his hip, as well. He felt it all along a thin stream, starting a few inches above his hip, down to a point just above and a distance behind his ankle.

Now, this was weird. His apartment had felt cold before, though that had just been when he had put the air conditioning up a bit too high. And he had never felt a sensation of cold in an area so small before. On top of that, there were those memories. He closed his eyes and thought again, slicking back his hair as he did so. After several minutes, he noticed something about the conflict between them. He had assumed one memory to be a dream, and the other to be an explanation for it. But…the explanation didn't seem authentic. It was as if it had been placed on top of the "dream" memory, to cover it up. He mentally reached out for that veil…and peeled it off.

Kouen opened his eyes. Yes, the memory was real! It had happened! He hadn't eaten sushi, but rather rice cakes. More importantly, he had run from, and fought, that masked thing. And Ichigo had suddenly received power from that girl. But how? Kouen continued to rack his mind, searching for that answer. _'The sword…she pierced the sword into him, and gave him power…'_ But…the sword Ichigo had was not the same as hers. Meaning somehow, the power had allowed Ichigo to _create_ another one.

"A sword…" he looked down at his waist again, and felt around the area of cold. "Ichigo received a boost of power due to a physical connection with that Death God, and he was able to manifest it in the form of a sword." He thought back to the battle, to the earliest part of it, when the beast had struck the Death God and she had collided with him, "So, because I touched her, I gained a degree of strength as well…enough to slightly harm that thing…" He peered at the area at his side, speculating the implications of this event. "Ichigo became a Death God…and when he did so, an enormous amount of power was flowing from his body. So, perhaps…" He narrowed his eyes at the area, and reached down with his right hand to the topmost part of the area. He let his fingers close around it…and felt something solid. "Yes…"

There was a flash of light, but it was not quite the same as the one that had occupied Ichigo's transformation. It was a crimson shade, and it momentarily lit up the room so that it seemed the walls were covered in blood. When it faded, Kouen saw in the light sifting through a window that a sheathed katana was at his side. The sheath was red, and the hilt was geometric pattern of crimson and gold. The cross guard was golden as well, and was circular with points jutting about its circumference, like a glinting star. Kouen grinned, and pulled the katana out, admiring the small sound it made as it exited its case. The blade glinted in the moonlight, a meter in length if it were straight. It curved gracefully, however, and Kouen knew simply by holding and gazing at it that it was a beautiful, swift, and deadly weapon.

Kouen smirked, the light shining on the silver blade dancing in his green eyes. He permitted himself to look down, and was not surprised to see the robes of a Death God draped about his body. He knew what this meant. Ichigo had been able to kill that monster with little effort upon transforming, and now that same power belonged to him.

It was late. He was tired. In the morning, he would figure out what he would do with this unexpected blessing. Perhaps he would seek out the female Death God, and find out more. Perhaps he would bring it up with Ichigo, for he was certain fate would lead them to meet at school the next day. Or perhaps he might even…He shrugged. Maybe, maybe…But now was not the time to decide. He sheathed the sword, and there was a glow as his uniform disappeared. He wasn't sure how that was happening, either, but his brain refused to try to work out anything else tonight. He lay down, a smirk pasted on his lips, and went to sleep.

* * *

_  
Next time on Bleach: Crossed Paths! It's Kouen's first day of school at Karakura! There, he realizes the true meaning of last night's venture, and at lunch takes advantage of some time alone with Ichigo to express his true feelings and-_

_SECURITY! Get that fan girl out of here! I want her on Soukyoku Hill immediately!_

_AH! It doesn't matter what you do to me, you can't stop the path of true love!_

_You're right, I can't. Luckily, you know nothing about that. Take her away! Aw, fuck, we're out of time again!_


	3. The First of Many

Can you find the ytmnd reference?

**Bleach: Crossed Paths  
****By G.O.T. Nick**

**Chapter Two: The First of Many**

Kouen's eyes flicked open, then squinted almost completely shut again in reaction to the sun's rays filtering through his window. He grumbled and sat up, then tossed his sheets aside and swung his legs over the side of the bed, and yawned. _'School today,'_ he thought to himself, _'at least it's Saturday, though, so I'll be free to figure stuff out all this afternoon and tomorrow.'_ "Still," he said aloud, and covered his mouth with a palm to suppress a yawn, which nevertheless distorted his voice as he continued, "I'm glad I only have to do this every other week. Saturdays were meant for kicking back and slacking off, not working…"

He stood up, and as if to double-check that it hadn't been a dream, felt around near his left hip. Yes, it was still there-that cold, tingly feeling shaped just like a sheathed katana. The sensation was a comfort to Kouen-it stood for a newly discovered, untapped power, and set a new goal for Kouen to achieve. He smirked to himself, and got prepared for the day ahead.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Kouen was headed out the door of his apartment, wearing his brand new school uniform and carrying his text books in a brown bag slung over his shoulder. After what had happened last night, he was more convinced than ever that school was a waste of his time, yet he trudged on anyways down the street. At the very least it was to meet up with Ichigo, and possibly to meet some new classmates.

Several more minutes of walking brought him across a group of five men, a little bit older than him, wearing street clothes and leaning against various walls, poles, etc. Kouen noticed they were eyeing him as he approached, and decided instead of making any attempt to avoid the group to walk directly into their midst. As he had suspected, the group closed in around him, and one of them stepped forward. "Hey," the apparent leader said, "welcome to the Bukkorosu District of Karakura Town."

"Bukkorosu District?" Kouen asked innocently, "I've never heard of it before."

"Yeah, well, it ain't exactly an official district," the leader responded, "Basically it's the area controlled by us, the Bukkorosu Gang." His comrades responded by standing up a little taller in an attempt to intimidate Kouen. Kouen simply smiled back, unperturbed by their behavior. "The Bukkorosu District's a dangerous place," the leader continued, "if you want to pass through unharmed, there's a small fee for us to protect you. Otherwise, we can't assure your safe passage."

"Oh really?" Kouen inquired innocently.

"Yeah really," the leader responded with a grin.

"Ah," Kouen said, "well, unfortunately I'm a little short on cash, so I can't pay the fee."

"That's a pity," the leader replied, and stepped back to allow the other four men to approach Kouen.

Seven seconds later all four were on the ground, clutching various parts of their bodies in pain. It would have been three seconds, but Kouen couldn't attack all of them at once because he only had three free limbs, since in one arm he clutched his bag. The leader stared in shock for a moment, then sputtered out desperately, "Uh, uh, uh-b-b-b-but for you, we can offer a discount! No fee for the rest of the day! Or ever, for that matter!" and turned tail and ran.

Kouen sighed in content, and something caught his eye. He turned to look down at the last person he had struck, using a right uppercut to the jaw to floor him. The dazed man was wearing a pair of green-tinted sunglasses, which were currently reflecting the light of the sun into Kouen's eyes, hence how he had noticed them. "Nice shades," he complimented as he reached down and plucked them off of the man's nose. Straightening up, he slid them over his own eyes, and said, "but they don't fit you as well as me." Without another word, he walked off, whistling a happy tune to himself. Maybe attending school in this neighborhood wouldn't be so bad.

* * *

Kouen was a bit disappointed when he found himself in the doorway to his classroom, and Ichigo was nowhere in sight. Oh well. Ichigo had impressed him both times the two had come across each other, but that didn't mean there would be no one else interesting in this school. Naturally, Kouen had simply wanted to talk to the orange-head about last night's events, but he could figure that stuff out later, maybe even seek out the guy come lunch. In the meanwhile-

"HEEEEELLLLOOOOOO!" Kouen jerked back in surprise, and reacted to the sudden, enthusiastic greeting by swinging his bag around at the person who had somehow appeared in front of him without his noticing. The twenty or so pounds of books stuffed into their casing smashed right into the face of the one who had sprung up. They crashed to the floor with a grunt of pain, and stayed on the floor for a few moments to whimper. Then they sprung up, a bandage somehow in place over their cheek and a grin on their face. "Welcome to Karakura High School, new student! I am Asano Keigo, the all-around most awesome guy around here!"

Kouen's eye twitched, and he reached out for Keigo's shirt collar and jerked him forward. From that distance he was able to barely make out Keigo's features, including his almost shoulder-length, somewhat mullet-like brown hair. This was not important to Kouen at the moment, however, as much as expressing his discomfort as a result of Keigo's greeting in his own special manner. "What the hell are you doing, damn it? Don't yell in people's faces like that!"

Keigo waved his arms in front of his face protectively, "Angh! Please don't hurt me! I'm sorry, I meant nothing by my actions! I just wanted to welcome you!" Kouen's eyebrow twitched, and in a blur of rage and frustration reared his fist back. Keigo panicked, and a pair of streams of tears burst from his eyes, "AHH! NOT IN THE FACE! DAMN IT ICHIGO, WHY THE HELL AREN'T YOU AROUND WHEN I NEED YOU?"

Kouen's ears twitched, his grimace faded, and he blinked. "Did you just say Ichigo?"

Keigo, who had squeezed his eyes shut during his yells of panic and dismay, cautiously half-opened one eye and glanced at Kouen. "Uh…yes?"

Kouen lowered his fist, "So you know Kurosaki Ichigo, then?"

Keigo opened the other eye, "Yes?"

Kouen gripped Keigo's collar with both hands and pulled him closer to scream in his face, "THEN WHERE THE HELL IS HE?"

"He might not be here today," said a voice behind Kouen. In response, he let his grip on Keigo's collar slacken enough to turn around. There he saw a black-haired boy with a calm demeanor, a bit shorter than Keigo.

"What?" Kouen asked, suddenly very calm. He heard Keigo murmur something like, "Ah, thanks Mizuiro," dazedly.

"There was an accident at his house last night," the newcomer, apparently named Mizuiro, said. "A truck crashed into the wall, and left a big hole in it. He might not even come to school at all today."

"I see," Kouen dropped Keigo unceremoniously, and turned to face Mizuiro. He realized he hadn't given an explanation for his outburst, and held out his hand to the other teen, "I'm Ryokuai Kouen, just transferred here. I met Ichigo yesterday."

Mizuiro gripped his hand lightly and shook it, offering Kouen a smile, "I'm Kojima Mizuiro, nice to meet you, Ryokuai-san. I see you've already met Keigo." At this, Keigo shot up off the floor to face Kouen, grinning like an idiot, seemingly unaffected by Kouen's previous assault. He stopped grinning immediately after realizing Kouen was glaring at him in annoyance. "I think you dropped this," Mizuiro stated, holding up Kouen's bag to him. Apparently it had been dropped in the short scuffle. Kouen scratched the back of his neck, grunted his thanks, and took the bag.

"'S Ichigo have this class?" Kouen asked calmly, turning away from Keigo but somehow still maintaining eye contact with Mizuiro as he walked fully into the classroom. Mizuiro nodded and hummed affirmatively.

"Let me introduce you to the class, why don't you?" Mizuiro offered. Kouen shrugged, dumped his bag on a desk, and followed him a short distance to where a trio of girls was gathered, talking to each other animatedly.

"Ah, Hime!" one, a red-haired girl with a pair of half-moon glasses perched on her nose, squealed excitedly. "You're as cute as ever! Oh, your breasts look so good, straining against your uniform like that!"

"Um…" murmured the girl the red-head was…complimenting. "Thank you, Chizuru-chan." She spoke in a somewhat confused tone, and Kouen got the feeling that she didn't quite understand what was with Chizuru. She had long orange hair that flowed down to the middle of her back. There was a pair of crystalline, snowflake-shaped hairclips resting over her temples. But despite her odd hair color and style, her most catching feature was her large bosom, which just as Chizuru said was pressing against her school uniform. She noticed Mizuiro and Kouen approaching, and her expression changed to one of happiness. "Ah! You must be the new transfer student!" she folded her hands in front of her stomach and bowed about forty-five degrees towards him. "It's nice to meet you!"

Kouen returned the bow, though his hands remained at his sides, and said, "Likewise. I am Ryokuai Kouen."

He and the girl straightened up, and she said "I am-"

But she was suddenly cut off as Chizuru squeezed her about the waist in a tight hug and exclaimed, "The cutest-looking girl in all of Karakura, Inoue Orihime! She's my wonderful, beautiful, big-breasted flower!" She moved her arms up Orihime's torso a bit, so that her embrace thrust out the other girl's breasts more, "And I am her number one admirer, Honshou Chizuru!"

There was the sudden sound of a fist striking a skull, and Chizuru flew away from Orihime. "Damn lesbo…quit acting so weird!" Kouen adjusted his eyes to look at the person who had punched Chizuru…and stared. She was slightly taller than Orihime and Chizuru, but easily shorter than he was, still. She looked like a tomboy, judging by her violent nature, vernacular, and short, black hair. Nonetheless, Kouen found himself staring at her, and felt his cheeks burning. The black-haired girl glanced at him, and quirked an eyebrow, "What?"

"N-nothing!" Kouen said, almost a little too quickly. But he was able to shake off his fluster, and force his blush down.

"Whatever," she replied, waving her hand in dismissal, "I'm Arizawa Tatsuki. Welcome to our school."

"Thanks," Kouen replied, a bit silently. _'Damn it,'_ he thought to himself, _'you look like an idiot! Say something!'_ He took a moment to consider what to say, before finding the right thing, "You punch pretty well. Plenty of speed and strength, and you hit Chizuru in just the right spot to stun her without dealing too much injury."

Tatsuki blinked in slight surprise, and said, "You noticed, huh? A lot of people just think I don't hit her hard enough. Idiots… I could break her face in one hit if I really wanted."

Kouen looked Tatsuki up and down a bit (managing to hold down his blush as he did so). She seemed fit, but she was slim, not very buff at all. "You fight a lot?" That seemed the most rational explanation for her hard punch, as it couldn't be simply accountable for muscle. Tatsuki had experience with throwing punches and, Kouen suspected, multiple other unarmed strikes.

Tatsuki smiled at him, "Who exactly are, you, Sherlock Holmes?" Kouen blinked, a blank expression plastered on his face. "Never mind," another dismissive wave, "Yeah, I've been taking karate for about ten years. I'm the best martial artist in town."

"Really?" spoke Kouen, "I never personally liked martial arts. Classes were too slow. And I kept getting in trouble for hurting people."

Tatsuki narrowed her eyes at him, and she smirked. "Was that a challenge, new guy?"

Kouen blinked, somewhat surprised. But then he smirked back, "Sure, let's call it that."

"Okay, tough guy," Tatsuki said, stepping a little closer to him, and cracking her knuckles, "then let's get this out of the-"

"Good MORNING, fellow students!" Tatsuki faltered mid-sentence, and she and Kouen turned to look in the direction the voice had come from. Standing in the doorway, wearing the Karakura High School girl's uniform, was the Death God Kouen and Ichigo had encountered the previous night. Kouen's jaw nearly dropped, but he managed to stop himself. Now was not the time to make a scene.

He glanced at Tatsuki. She smirked up at him, a challenging look in her eyes. "We'll finish this later, right?" she said, "Class is about to start."

"Okay," Kouen nodded, and smirked right back at Tatsuki before turning away and walking to his desk.

As fate would have it, the Death God ended up sitting right in front of him. She turned around in her seat. Kouen was somewhat surprised to see that her eyes were almost completely shut, and her mouth was shaped into an open triangle that might be considered an expression of happiness. "Hello! My name is Kuchiki Rukia! It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Kuchiki Rukia, huh?" Kouen inquired, and in response Rukia nodded her head enthusiastically, "I think I've met you before."

Rukia's mouth suddenly snapped shut, and her eyes flicked open. Her eyes focused more clearly on him, and Kouen could swear he saw her eyes react in recognition before she suppressed it and said, slowly but in that same overly enthusiastic voice, "Um…no, I don't think so…"

"Junior high school," Kouen prompted.

Rukia let her mouth drop open into that triangle again, and giggled before saying, "Oh yes! You're…Kouen, right?"

'_Bingo,'_ Kouen thought to himself, _'you know you erased my memory, and I know you erased my memory. The only difference is that now I know that thing really did happen, and you have no clue that I know that. I'll have some questions for you later, Kuchiki Rukia. But for right now…'_ He heard the bell sound, and the teacher for the first period of class stepped in. _'I think I'll just sit here and be bored until I can get you into a private area where we can talk.'_

* * *

It was the break between second and third periods before something interesting finally happened. Kouen had managed to spend the last fifteen minutes of class sleeping without the teacher noticing. It wasn't until the teacher had left and the students began to move about that Keigo bumped into him, interrupting his nap. He made the teen pay for it, of course, but he later mentally thanked Keigo for it, because he was awake when Ichigo arrived.

Mizuiro had just finished explaining Ichigo's tardiness to Orihime and Tatsuki, and had succeeded in surprising the latter. "A truck?" she exclaimed, "Then is he injured? Or…dea-"

Ichigo hit her on the head with his bag before she could continue. "I'm not dead," he said from behind her. "Sorry to disappoint you, but nobody was injured."

"Kurosaki-kun!" said a relieved and flustered-looking Orihime, "G-good morning!" Sweat was rapidly beading on her forehead as she spoke, and an enormous smile was stretched across her pretty face.

Ichigo just looked slightly confused at her, "Y…yeah. You look happy as always, Inoue." He turned his head, and saw Kouen approaching, "Ah, Kouen. You've got this class after all, huh?"

"Yeah," Kouen replied simply, "weird stuff that happened last night, huh?"

Ichigo blinked, remembering that Kouen had, in fact, been present the previous night. "Y-yeah. Weird, a truck just barreling into the house and no one noticing."

"Yeah," Kouen repeated the simple phrase, "I'm glad your family didn't get hurt." _'Too badly,'_ he mentally tacked on, _'and you're thinking that too, aren't you?'_

"I'm…glad too," Ichigo agreed. He tried to change the topic, "So, you get used to the class yet?"

"Yeah," Kouen said again, "I've known how to fall asleep since I was born. It ain't too hard. By the way, I'm not the only new student here." He gestured with his head back in Rukia's direction, and then walked away several feet to better observe Ichigo's reaction. It was…amusing. For one thing, he barely managed to control his shock, only managing to keep it at the level of gaping in surprise and pointing blatantly at Rukia.

Rukia, for her part, managed to make things slightly less obvious, keeping up that weird personality of hers and maintaining her creepily happy expression. Still, Ichigo would have probably said something that would have given them away had Rukia not held out her hand, palm up, asking to use Ichigo's books for the day. On it she had scrawled: "Say something and I kill you." Hence, Ichigo managed to control himself until lunch break.

During lunch, Ichigo led Rukia outside, and began asking questions. Foremost was… "Isn't your job over? Why are you in my class? Didn't you go back to that Soul Society place?"

Rukia looked back at him levelly as she explained. The conversation wasn't exactly an engrossing one, as it mostly consisted of Ichigo looking angry and confused as he asked his questions and Rukia responding in a manner that seemed to express, "Wow, you're a real idiot, aren't you?" The short version of Rukia's explanation was that she had lost her Death God powers when transferring them to Ichigo, forcing her to use an artificial body or "gigai" until her powers returned, during which time Ichigo, with his new powers, would take over her Death God duties. "Also," Rukia stated, "you have no right to refuse, since-"

"I refuse!" Ichigo cut her off sharply, holding up his hands in an "x" in front of his face to further express his denial.

Rukia was left with her finger in front of her face, having been about to make a point, with her mouth wide open between words. Her finger lowered as she said, "What?"

Kouen peered out from his hiding place behind a low, wooden fence. He had thus far managed to catch every word of the conversation, as Ichigo and Rukia were arguing rather loudly. "Idiot," he muttered, "he gets that kind of power, and he doesn't want to use it?" He had, naturally, followed the two from a distance behind in order to see what information Ichigo could extract from the Death God. Unfortunately, Kouen was not the best at stealthy maneuvers, and thus far it was only the volume of the conversation that was preventing him from being noticed. Kouen had prepared adequately for his discovery, of course, with a rational (though somewhat odd) excuse of, "Oh, sorry, Kurosaki! It's just that you seemed kind of intent on Kuchiki-san when you left, so I followed to make sure you didn't do anything you might regret! You are both minors, you know…" Apparently, he wouldn't have to resort to that…

Ichigo didn't look ready to be swayed from his decision, and was adamant that he didn't want to fight any monsters again as he had the night before, especially if it were to protect total strangers. "Sorry if I disappointed you," he finished addressing Rukia.

Rukia did still look a bit taken aback, but her expression reverted to one of cool determination as she said, "I see," and reached into her pocket for something. The hand came out clutching a red cloth, which turned out to be a fingerless glove that she pulled over her right hand. On the back of the glove was a symbol consisting of a white skull surrounded by a black and blue flame. "Then I have no choice!" she exclaimed as she struck Ichigo's chin with her palm, causing…something to happen to him. It was obvious that his body was on the ground, dressed in his school uniform, but it was also obvious that he had fallen over onto his butt, now wearing his Death God uniform with his immense sword strapped to his back.

Kouen blinked from his hiding spot. "She separated his soul from his body?" he thought aloud. Yes, that had to be it, because the Death God Ichigo was moving about with an expression of shock on his face. There was no time for either to continue with such thoughts, however, as Rukia was ordering Ichigo to follow her as she raced off. Kouen hopped out from behind the fence as they ran off, and walked over to Ichigo's body. A chain was connected to his chest, and was stretching off in the direction he and Rukia had gone off in. "Hm… A connection of some sort. Probably symbolic somehow." He looked around. So far no one had come by…but just to be safe he propped Ichigo's body up against a wall, in a sitting position, so that he appeared to be napping. Then he visually followed the path of the chain, which appeared to be infinite in length. "Looks like it'll be easy to follow them, at least." And he began to run after Rukia and Ichigo.

* * *

"It means," stated Rukia about twenty minutes later to Ichigo as he glanced at the words on her cell phone, "within fifteen minutes of noon, in a twenty-meter vicinity of Yumizuma Children's Park, a Hollow will appear. Most likely, that child will be attacked."

Kouen still didn't know how the two hadn't noticed him. They had been quiet up until Ichigo had expressed his boredom at having to stand in the middle of an empty park for twenty minutes. Not that Kouen could blame him, he was pretty bored himself sitting uncomfortably in the thick bushes just a few meters from Rukia and Ichigo. At least he was learning a few things for his discomfort, like the name of the masked beast he had encountered. Hollow…was that because of the hole in its chest? Or some other reason…? In any case, his thoughts were cut off by a bellow and a scream of terror. He looked over his shoulder, and saw through the guardrail behind him that on the level of playground below them a spider-like Hollow was scuttling in pursuit of a small, black-haired child. Or rather, Kouen corrected himself, the spirit of a small, black-haired child, judging by the small length of chain extending from his torso.

Ichigo had apparently seen and heard the Hollow and boy as well, and was preparing to draw his sword and jump over the guardrail. But he stopped as Rukia yelled, "WAIT!" Ichigo turned around, and looked at her with an expression of desperation as she continued, "You're going to help him? Isn't he a stranger?"

"W-what are you talking about?" Ichigo protested, "How can I not help someone that's right in front of me?"

"Whether he's in front of you or far away," Rukia stated calmly, eyes narrowed and with a cold look, she continued, "it doesn't change the fact that he's being attacked." The boy tripped and fell, and Ichigo turned to face he and the Hollow again. "DON'T HELP HIM!" Rukia commanded. "Even if you save that kid here, it won't matter if you don't become a Death God! Saving him because he's right in front of you? Don't be naïve…"

Kouen chose the time was finally right to reveal himself, "Yeah yeah, beautiful speech you've got going there, Kuchiki-san. But I don't think now's a good time to give a lecture." Rukia stared at him, her cold expression temporarily broken. "You know what? You finish your speech, I'm gonna actually do something, 'kay?" He reached down to his waist, and gripped the cold aura he felt there. There was a burst of red light, and when it faded, Kouen was standing in his new Death God robes, clutching the red-and-gold-hilted katana in his right hand. Without waiting for Rukia and Ichigo, he hopped over the guardrail, landing calmly on the grass below, and raced to meet the Hollow.

The Hollow looked up from its fallen prey at Kouen, recognizing his uniform. "A Death God, hm? Trying to take away my food? Such a pity…" It boldly scuttled towards him, "But…you are weak, I can tell. Excellent…my first Death God meal!"

Kouen held out his katana, clutching it tightly, nervous but prepared to defend himself. "Just try it, bastard." It was then, however, that he realized something, _'Holy crap…I've never used a goddamn sword before!'_ The Hollow lunged forward.

Back behind the guardrail, Rukia and Ichigo watched as the former continued to speak. "He understands the duties of a Death God," Rukia said, still calmly, "Although he seems calm…he is confused about what he has discovered. I'm surprised I didn't feel his reiatsu before…perhaps it was simply eclipsed by yours…but in any case, there he is, less than twenty-four hours after being nearly killed by a Hollow, risking his life against another to protect an innocent soul. Perhaps it's recklessness, perhaps it's blind courage, perhaps it's a will to protect…but in any case, he's not hesitating."

The Hollow swung with one of its front legs, and Kouen raised his katana up to deflect the strike. But the Hollow had six legs in total, so it was no difficult task for it to bring the other front mandible around towards Kouen's unprotected side. In response, Kouen rolled forwards out of the way, then jumped up and stabbed at the leg. A hit! His blade pierced through, and blood danced across the grass. He pulled his sword out of the leg and jumped back to avoid a retaliation swing.

"He's doing rather well for a first-timer," Rukia commented, "but he won't last long. He's not strong enough. Hm…if only I had my Death God powers…that Hollow would be no match for me. But for someone as inexperienced as Ryokuai-kun…well, he just hasn't had enough time to develop his spiritual power yet."

Ichigo grimaced, and squeezed his fists tightly over the air at his sides. He said nothing.

The Hollow lunged forwards, its claws swinging down in a surprisingly rapid assault for such a seemingly not dexterous creature. Kouen grimaced, and moved his sword in the way of the first, second, third, fourth strikes… The movements were surprisingly easy for him, as was the task of physically holding back the blows. No doubt in spirit form, strength and ability were somehow different…but this wasn't the time to ponder on that matter. Seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth strikes… "Damn it, stop blocking you worm!" the Hollow screeched, baring its fangs.

"He's being backed into the wall," Rukia observed, "rookie mistake. Oh well, at least he fulfilled his duty. He was willing to give his life to save that boy's…"

Ichigo's eyes widened as he remembered the night before, when Rukia had heedlessly thrust herself in the Hollow's jaws to prevent Ichigo from meeting that same fate… _'Give your life…Yeah…I am…'_ He left the odd thought incomplete, and reached over his shoulder to grab his sword's hilt…

Kouen's back hit the wall, and his eyes widened, "Oh crap…" The Hollow screeched again, and shoved its front legs forward into the wall on either side of Kouen, virtually pinning him in place. Then it bared its fangs and lunged forward to take a big bite out of him…

In a last desperate attempt, Kouen dropped his sword and latched his hands on the Hollow's top and bottom jaws, gripping them tightly and holding the mouth both back and open. "I ain't on the menu, you goddamn bastard!" he screamed at the top of his lungs as he held back the beast, though the arachnid was slowly pushing forward. Soon Kouen would lose his leverage and…

The leg on Kouen's right suddenly flew off in a flash of light and spew of blood. The Hollow let out a cry of pain and backed off, stumbling backwards and falling clumsily to the ground. Kouen, and the boy, stared in shock. Then Kouen felt a bit embarrassed, because Ichigo had just saved his ass. Ichigo hoisted his large sword over his shoulder, and turned to look at Kouen, eyebrows slanted. "You okay?"

Kouen nodded, and heard above him Rukia say, "Ichigo…you've accepted?"

Ichigo planted his sword's blade in the ground and yelled angrily up at her, "SHUT THE HELL UP! I DON'T ACCEPT JACK! I SAVED THEM BECAUSE I WANTED TO SAVE THEM! IS THAT WRONG?" His eyes were wide, and he was pointing wildly up at Rukia for emphasis, "Are you any different? You sacrificed yourself to save me last night! At that time were you thinking about any complicated stuff like 'This is my duty as a Death God?' That's not what sacrificing yourself is!" The Hollow had gotten up during his rant, and was stumbling angrily towards him. Ichigo, half-focused, unplanted his sword and stabbed straight through the Hollow's face. "At the very least, I'm different!"

Kouen didn't bother paying attention to the rest of what Ichigo had to say. He was too busy wondering how the hell the guy had managed to kill the Hollow in all of six seconds when Kouen had been struggling to survive for just a minute. _'He…must have more power than me…'_ his eyes flashed in realization, _'Rukia specifically gave her powers to him…she said all her powers had been lost in the transfer…and she's a seasoned Death God, so she's had time to develop her powers. Hm…looks like I've got work to do.'_

"I'm going to help you to do this Death God thing," Ichigo concluded, holding out his hand to Rukia, "Even if I don't want to."

Rukia smiled, and accepted his hand with a simple "Thanks."

"Ahem," Kouen cleared his throat to get their attention, then stood up, dusted himself off, and sheathed his katana. "Right, now that we've got that settled," he turned to point at Rukia, "you've got some explaining to do for me."

Rukia sighed, "I guess so. All right, but I'm hungry. Let's find somewhere to eat and talk in private."

Kouen put his hand to his chin in thought, before saying, "I know a place…"

* * *

It turned out the restaurant Kouen had run through earlier was a nice, family-run, American diner. There wasn't much of a crowd, in fact the three of them were the only customers, but Kouen attributed that to the fact that the window was being repaired out front. "Alright, so let me see if I get everything," he said to Rukia after swallowing some of his sandwich, "you're from Soul Society, which is kind of like Heaven and Purgatory all in one, if I understand correctly. You came here because you were chasing after a Hollow, specifically that big blue one that I spent like twenty minutes running away from last night. You stumbled across Ichigo because his spirit energy was freakishly high and was messing up your senses. After that Hollow nearly ate you, you tried to give half of your power to him so he could fight the Hollow. It worked, but as it turns out, you lost all your powers instead of just half. So now Ichigo's your substitute, and I got dragged into this because, as it turns out, I've had dormant Death God power my whole life and that sudden surge of spiritual energy awakened them. The only thing you can't explain is why I don't leave my body when I transform, since you've never seen that happen before."

"Correct," Rukia stated, although she seemed distracted by the plastic ketchup bottle she was holding.

"Good, I'm glad I understand all that," Kouen stated, "your drawings made it confusing."

"Why will it not come out?" a now fully distracted Rukia muttered. Ichigo, now back in his body, took the bottle from her and carefully squeezed out a trail across her hamburger. "Ah…thank you."

"Mm," Ichigo grunted in reply around a mouthful of steak. He swallowed, and said, "So how exactly are we gonna do this?" You said that Hollow I fought earlier-"

Kouen's eye twitched, "WE fought earlier," he interjected.

"Yeah, sure," said Ichigo offhandedly, "anyways, you said it was a pretty weak one. So, how are we gonna fight some of the stronger ones? On-the-job training doesn't sound too appealing to me."

"It's quite simple," Rukia replied with a smile. She stood up and struck a pose with her right fist pointed towards the sky and her left hand resting with her palm on her hip, then stated, "I will be your expert teacher in my advanced course, How To Be a Death God 101!" Kouen and Ichigo facefell out of their chairs. "Yes, How To Be a Death God 101, where you will learn how to kill Hollows, purify Pluses, and all the skills necessary for the exciting and dangerous Death God career! Exams will occur every time a Hollow appears, and your grade will be based on whether you survive or not! A tutor will be available twenty-four hours a day, and-"

"Okay, we get it!" Ichigo shouted as he jumped up from the ground, "Just shut up with the figurative language already, this ain't literature class!"

Kouen got up, adjusted his sunglasses, and replaced his chair on all four legs, "When's the first lesson, then?"

"After school today!" Rukia answered, "time is of the essence if we want you both to be fighting fit, especially you, Kouen."

"Today?" Kouen repeated, then waved his hands in a negative gesture, "Sorry, can't make it. I've already got plans."

Rukia looked at him questioningly, "Plans? What could be more important than training to be a Death God?"

Kouen smiled and put his arm behind his neck, "I've got a hot date!"

Rukia and Ichigo stared at him. Rukia looked blank, Ichigo disbelieving. "A date?" he repeated. Kouen nodded affirmatively. "With who?"

Kouen let out a nervous, "Hehe…" before answering, "Arizawa Tatsuki."

Ichigo stared for five seconds…and burst out laughing. "AHAHAHA! Yeah, like she'd go out with you!"

Kouen stood up out of his chair and shot a death glare at Ichigo over the rim of his sunglasses, "Hey! What's so unbelievable about that, huh?"

Ichigo composed himself, and said, "Oh, come on, fess up. What're you really doing?"

Kouen sat down again, fuming, and muttered, "I challenged her to a fight."

Ichigo stared for five seconds…and burst out laughing again. "AHAHAHA! No, seriously, what are you doing?" Kouen glared at him. "Oh," his face turned blank, "man, you're an idiot."

"WHAT?" Kouen shouted angrily.

Ichigo took another bite out of his steak, then took a swig from his drink to wash it down. "Let me put it this way, so you don't get any more pissed off," he held up a finger, "fact one: you almost got eaten by a Hollow. Twice." Kouen glared at him. "Fact two," he held up a second finger, "I saved your ass both times and killed the Hollow within about fifteen seconds each." Kouen snarled, and Ichigo held up a third finger, "Fact three:…I have never beaten Tatsuki in a fight since I met her ten years ago. Ever."

Kouen stared, his anger forgotten, and thought back to when Ichigo had dispatched the group of skaters single-handedly a day previously. "Not even once?"

"Nope," Ichigo said, "heck, it took me three years just to land some hits on her. And that was the day-" he cut himself off suddenly, and his eyes went blank.

Rukia looked up from her burger, which she had been enjoying fitfully since the two had started talking. She swallowed. "Ichigo?" she asked, her voice tinged with a degree of concern, "Is something wrong?"

Ichigo shook his head, closed his eyes, and said, "No, I'm fine."

Kouen raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Maybe some other time, Ichigo would be willing to explain…but today was not that day. He took a last bite out of his sandwich, chewed, swallowed, stood, and said, "You guys done? We should get back. Lunch period should be ending soon, we'll have to hoof it."

Rukia stood up, and Ichigo soon followed. The two began to walk away, and Kouen said, "Hey! What about the bill?"

"You pay it," Ichigo commanded.

"What?" Kouen exclaimed, "But you guys got stuff too! And I ordered the cheapest thing out of all of us!"

"Yeah," Ichigo conceded, "but you're also the one who got his ass saved by the other two diners. So you're gonna pay the bill."

Kouen grumbled angrily to himself, fished some yen out of his pocket, and left it on the table. He stamped off in pursuit of Rukia and Ichigo, mumbling incoherent protests to no one in particular.

* * *

Kouen scratched his neck in annoyance. "Damn, these things itch," he voiced, referring to the all-white gi he was now wearing. Upon arriving at the dojo, Tatsuki had had him change into it out of his school uniform, and he had also removed his sunglasses. He wasn't happy with his new clothing. What annoyed him most was the belt. Tatsuki had explained when she had given him the uniform that rank did not refer to strength, but rather accomplishment. Still, Kouen felt embarrassed to be wearing something that designated him as the lowest rank in a combat-related activity. _'Whatever,'_ he thought, having finally gotten over the issue, _'I'm just gonna beat this girl and never wear one again. Heh, maybe afterwards we can…nah, I don't think she'd like me being that forward. She ain't that kinda girl. She'll just be angry after I've beaten her more than anything else.'_

"You ready?" questioned Tatsuki, who was dressed in a white gi with a black belt. Kouen shrugged. "By the way, I hope you don't mind our audience," she motioned to the small crowd of karate students, as well as Ichigo, Orihime, and Rukia, who had come to watch. Tatsuki had apparently become a master at the dojo, and so because Kouen had unwittingly given her the opportunity, she had decided that their fight would be a good chance to, "Teach the kids how to defend themselves against a skilled street fighter. You know, how to exploit their openings and such. Don't worry, I won't embarrass you too much."

"I'm cool with it," Kouen said, "they'll just be witnesses to vouch for the fact that I beat you. Though I think you'll be the one who regrets inviting them here, because I'm gonna show them that it ain't martial arts that wins fights, but strength, speed, smarts and good ol' guts. Don't be disappointed if you lose a few pupils over this."

Tatsuki smirked at him, "Don't be disappointed if you get ridiculed over this. And I think I'm gonna prove that practice can beat the biggest ego you meet on the streets."

Kouen smirked back, "Right, so let's just say the winner's right, okay?" Tatsuki nodded.

One of Tatsuki's students, a girl that appeared to be about eight years old, ran up to the edge of the mat the two were standing on. She carried a small mallet and gong, and struck the latter with the former while shouting, "Begin!" Then she backed away to watch the sparring session.

'_Right then,'_ Kouen thought, _'I'm supposed to be the alley-going, nose-picking, tobacco-chewing, I'll-kill-you-if-you-don't-give-me-what-I-want guy in this fight, so I'll be the aggressor. Better be careful though, it'd be a shame to harm such a nice-looking girl…I wonder what she looks like outside of that-SNAP OUT OF IT! DON'T GET DISTRACTED!'_ He shook his head, and focused on Tatsuki. She had taken up a stance with her right foot in front of her body, pointed out, while she leaned back on her left foot, which pointed to the side. Her left fist was at her hip, clutched in a fist, while her right hand was in front of her body, level with her chest, fingers and palm making a perfectly flat surface. _'She knows I'm going to attack first, so I better not disappoint her. But I better think this through first…her right hand's positioned to block my blows pretty well, and she's putting most of her weight on her back leg, so it'll be difficult to trip her. Hm…'_ He smiled to himself as he figured out what to do.

"Okay, here I come!" he warned, dashing forward. He jabbed forward with his right fist towards her face, and she quickly countered the blow by grabbing his wrist and pushing it away. Just as he thought she would do. He smirked and swung his left arm around, his fist careening quickly towards her head, and-

A sudden burst of pain crusaded up Kouen's arm as Tatsuki neatly twisted his arm to the outside of his body. His concentration snapped like a twig in the wave of pain as his nerves informed him repeatedly that his arm wasn't supposed to move that way. His left arm stopped in mid-flight, and his fist uncurled in response to the pain. Tatsuki didn't give him time to focus on the pain, however, as she drove her left fist forward, striking him in the forehead and dazing him. She extended her right leg out, between his legs, and shoved Kouen to her left, neatly tripping him and leaving him sprawled out on the mat. Her students cheered, and she smiled while continuing to maintain her grip on Kouen's arm, leaving him writhing in pain on the ground. "Give up?" she asked casually.

"Ifweweren'tinthepresenceofyoungchildrentherewouldbealotofthingsformetosaytoyoubutsincethat'snotthecaseI'llsettleforyellingindiscriminately!" Kouen screamed out from the ground.

"Should I take that as a yes?" Tatsuki asked.

"NO!" Kouen replied, and suddenly Tatsuki felt a leg kick her right ankle, and Kouen latched his free hand onto her arm and yanked her forward. With a yelp of surprise, she crashed on top of him. "That really frickin' hurt!" Kouen complained, closing his sore right arm around her torso and rolling over so that Tatsuki was under him. He then latched his left hand over her neck, and applied a slight pressure. "There! Got you!"

Tatsuki looked surprised and, to a lesser degree, panicked. If this were a real fight, Kouen would be strangling her right now. She had to find a way to escape his grasp, and quickly. _'Damn it…'_ she thought, _'didn't someone teach me how to deal with a situation like this?'_ Kouen had somehow been able to wrap his right arm around both of her own before flipping them over, and with that arm now between her and the mat, her arms were effectively tied to her sides. He was also practically pinned onto her, as the maneuver that had allowed him to neutralize her arms had left him virtually pinned to that spot. The unfortunate thing about this, for her, was the fact that she couldn't get room to lift her legs and kick out at him. _'Gotta be some way to make him let go, though…wait a second…'_ She bucked herself upwards, forcing the two of them up off the mat slightly. Kouen maintained his grip, but that was just what she had thought he would do. Kouen had only managed to pin her right arm by actually gripping onto it when he had flipped them, and because of its soreness, this was a great problem for Kouen. The two of them crashed back onto the mat, and Tatsuki made sure to place more of her weight onto Kouen's right wrist. He yelled in shock and pain, and his grip on her right arm released almost immediately. "Yes!" she exclaimed in triumph, as she delivered three quick blows to his chest. The air shot out of Kouen's lungs thanks to her well-placed strikes, and his left arm came off of her throat. She rolled out from under him, and he was left kneeling and gasping for air.

Tatsuki herself was a bit out of breath as well. Thrusting herself up bodily had caused Kouen's hand to press into her throat, which hadn't been particularly pleasant. She rubbed at her neck with her left hand, as Kouen struggled to his feet.

"Man," Kouen voiced, "you're a lot tougher than you look. You cheated though, that wasn't exactly a move from the book."

"Martial arts isn't always a rigid practice," Tatsuki stated, "You have to be able to adapt to different situations."

Kouen grinned, and took a few more deep breaths before responding. "Okay, I made the first attack, how about you take the next one?"

"No," replied Tatsuki, "the battle's already over."

"Huh?" said a confused Kouen, "What are you talking about? We're obviously both still standing."

Tatsuki grinned, and explained, "If we had been fighting for real, the battle would have been decided either when you applied a chokehold, or when I punched your lungs. It would all depend on who recovered first. And since each of us was holding back a bit, we can't know that. I won't concede the match to you, but I won't declare victory either. All I'll say is that for a punk, you fight pretty good."

Kouen frowned, then cracked a grin at her, "You fight pretty good too, Tatsuki. Maybe we can try this again some time."

"Yeah, maybe," agreed Tatsuki. She turned to the students, "Alright, class, because we went through the lessons earlier, you're dismissed for today. I'll see you all next week!" There was a rush and a blur of noise and motion as the students of various ages and sizes rushed to grab their bags and shoes before running out the door. Various farewells were yelled to Tatsuki, and to a lesser extent directly to Kouen.

Kouen sighed, and used the sleeve of his gi to wipe away the thin layer of sweat that had gathered on his forehead. Besides he and Tatsuki, only Orihime, Ichigo, and Rukia remained in the dojo. "Wow, Tatsuki-chan!" Orihime squealed excitedly as she jumped up and down, her breasts mimicking the motion in comparison to the rest of her body, "I've never seen you fight like that before!"

"What can I say?" Tatsuki responded, "Kouen caught me off-guard. For such a self-acclaimed street fighter, you seemed to focus a lot on analyzing my motions." She turned to face Kouen, "I noticed you focusing on my stance before you attacked. Your plan was pretty good, if you had accounted for all the different things I could've done while holding onto your wrist."

Kouen rolled his hand around experimentally, "You mean there was more you could've done?"

She grinned, "Oh, you can ask Ichigo about that."

"No," Ichigo cut in, looking angered, "no he can't."

"What'd she do?" Kouen inquired.

"I SAID YOU COULDN'T ASK, DAMN IT!"

"Now now, Kurosaki-kun…" Rukia said in her fake voice, which had taken on a soothing tone for the purposes of her statement, "no need to be so violent. Is this because you got beaten up by a girl?"

Ichigo turned on her, "You stay out of this, Rukia!"

"Oh, Ichigo," Kouen spoke up, "didn't you tell me you hadn't beaten Tatsuki in a fight since you met her ten years ago?"

"Shut the hell up, Kouen!"

"Man, the image of you as a kid getting beaten up by her…" Kouen grinned in amusement, "you would've been five when you first met, right? Did you ever cry?"

"THAT'S IT!" Ichigo swung his arm in Kouen's direction, but the brunette was already off and running by the time the fist got anywhere close.

"Gotta go now, thanks for the fight Tatsuki!" Kouen blurted out as he ran out the door. Ichigo ran after him, shouting various obscenities as he gave chase. Thirty seconds later, Kouen ran back in, and slammed the door shut behind him. He shouted in triumph, and locked the door before heading into the dojo to retrieve his things. "Sorry, forgot a few things," he remarked to the three girls, "please make sure he doesn't get in until I'm through changing, 'kay?" Rukia, Orihime, and Tatsuki could only stare in astonishment and wonder how it was possible that two teenagers could be so much like a pair of two-year-olds when they put their minds to it.

It had been an eventful day all around. Ichigo and Kouen had become officially recognized Death Gods…well, at least to Rukia. Rukia and Kouen had gotten to know some of their new classmates. Rukia had discovered the wonders of ketchup bottles. Kouen and Tatsuki had been able to enjoy a good sparring match. In spite of this, Kouen later still found himself complaining that he had had to pay the bill.

* * *

Yeah, so this turned out to be a bit of a goofy chapter. But hey, that's part of what makes Bleach so great. So, uh…enough intelligent thought. Let's see the "episode preview."

_1 4m 73h 1337 h4xx0r r3v13wr!111one!1 Pr3p4r3 70 83 0wn3d (omgwtfbbqlolzorzroflcopter!) 8y my 4w50m3 f14m1ng 5k1775!11111eleven!1exclamationpoint_

…_Yeah, you mind speaking English? And stop hitting the "one" key, damn it._

_1'77 d0 wu7 1 w4n7, j00 k4n'7 m4k3 m3 d0 n-e-th1ng!1111lol_

…_Uh huh…you know what? I'm gonna go back to fangirls now, they're easier to understand._

_wtf?j00 k4n'7 d0 7h47! stfu,1 w4nn4 54y 5h17!_

_-BLAM!- Now that that's out of the way…let's get to killing someone I can understand._

_Hello!_

…_Hi…_

_I just want to say, I think what you're doing is horrible._

_What's that?_

_Setting Kouen up like that!_

_Come again?_

_You made him fall in love with that whore! I won't let you take my Kouen away from me!_

_Your Kouen? Bitch, he's my damn character, I'll do with him whatever I want._

_NO! I'LL NEVER LET YOU! HE'S MINE! WE BELONG TOGETHER, DO YOU HEAR ME?_

_SHUT THE HELL UP, DAMN IT! YOU WHACKED UP WHORE!_

_-Sniff- This is just a minor setback…once I show Kouen my awesome skills in martial arts, swordsmanship, Demon Arts, and academics, he'll fall madly in love with me, and we'll live happily ever after!_

_Oh no…damn it, security, when I asked for a fangirl I didn't mean a damn Mary-Sue! There's only one way to deal with this!_

_It doesn't matter who you send after me! I gave myself unbeatable combat skills!_

_Moron, I'm not making someone fight you…Yachiru, she's got candy! Go get her!_

_What? NOOO! GET AWAY! GET AWAY! AHHH!_


End file.
